Memories
by Missingwings
Summary: Three students reflect on memories of each other and on better times. Post-original, pre-Shippuden.


**Memories**

Sasuke never regretted leaving Konoha for Oto. At least, that's what he told himself. There were times though… times when he missed the warmth of his teammates. Times when he missed the arguments and fights with Naruto. Times when he missed Sakura's concern and her smiles. Times when he missed Kakashi's lazy attitude and his offhand comments to them, no matter how annoying that attitude and those comments were at the time.

When he compared his life then to his life now, even he couldn't deny he had been happier in Konoha. But he was getting stronger here. Orochimaru was teaching him things that Kakashi could never hope to accomplish.

That didn't mean he had to like it. Orochimaru and Kabuto's experiments were monstrous and everything was always so… _creepy._

Kabuto. Orochimaru's right hand man and loyal follower. Sasuke still remembered when he had first met the older boy. The first test, the dropout who couldn't even pass the, what he had thought simple, chunin exams. Of course he knew better now. The boy was still shrouded in mystery, but Sasuke knew now that he was no "dropout". He was at least chunin, probably jonin, level.

Sasuke didn't like them.

But he tolerated them.

If they made him strong enough to take on _that man_ then he could deal with it.

His fists clenched as the thought of _that man_ entered his head.

Even after all this time, he still felt the sharp sting of betrayal that, while time dulled, still hurt. He hated his brother with his whole being. But at the same time…

"No." He cut the thought off aloud. He would get stronger and he would end _that man_. It was his goal, his reason for existence. He wouldn't, couldn't, waver. _That man_ took everything from him, and he would return the favor.

Even if some part of him still loved and looked up to his brother. Even if part of him wished they could go back to that time when the most complicated thing he had to do was figure out how to capture his father's attention, ignore his fangirls and, hardest of all, finally get his brother to train with him for once.

He sighed and reached up, placing two of his fingers on his forehead and closing his eyes. He dropped his hand with another sigh.

He missed his team. He missed Konoha. He missed the past. Most of all though, he missed his brother.

**. . .**

Sakura stared out the window of the hospital in the nurse's break room. As she watched the wind blow through the trees and pick up leaves, she couldn't help but remember the many times she had looked out of the academy window and seen the same type of scene.

Back then she hadn't paid much attention to it. She had always turned away a moment later, usually to talk to a friend. Or look at Sasuke. Or yell at Naruto for being an idiot. She sighed as she thought of her teammates.

Naruto… back then he had been a nuisance, always trying to get her attention and being annoying. When she thought back to how she had treated him, she felt guilt at her actions. He had been lonely, and now she wondered why Naruto had liked her so much. She definitely hadn't deserved it then.

She had been selfish and self absorbed, constantly trying to get Sasuke's attention and… acting exactly like Naruto. Only to a higher and more annoying extreme.

Sasuke… He had always been cold to everyone around him. He had been independent and had refused help that would degrade him in any way. He had constantly fought with Naruto, and she had always chosen to support him over her blond teammate, even when he wasn't necessarily right.

She couldn't deny that she loved him. She didn't know how much was hormones, habit, or a lie she was telling herself, but she knew that she did. The betrayal she had felt when he had left her on that bench couldn't be described, and it still hurt whenever she thought of it.

His words to her, his actions, his reasons for leaving, they were what drove her. They were what pushed her to become stronger.

"_Sakura… Thank you."_

She clenched her fists, remembering the many missions with Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi.

Kakashi… He was her sensei and a mystery. She knew more about him now, especially since becoming Tsunade-sama's apprentice. Student of the Yondaime, sole survivor of his team, and notorious for being late. They still talked sometimes, but they were both keeping busy. She with training and him with missions. She missed the missions with him and the other two.

She missed her team. She missed Sasuke. She missed the simplicity. But most of all, she missed the past.

**. . .**

Naruto frowned as he sat on the riverbank. Watching the river flow past reminded him of training ground seven. Which, of course, reminded him of his team.

Sakura-chan, the strong willed kunoichi with a crush on Sasuke. He grimaced at that thought. The pinkette was amazing in his eyes, but her one flaw was Sasuke. She was obsessed, and she didn't see past the object of her affections. He had tried for years to get her attention, but it never worked. He hoped that when he got back, maybe he would have a chance.

As for Sasuke, he had a knuckle sandwich for that one. The Uchiha had stepped cleanly over the line, and Naruto was pissed. He had chosen that creepy snake guy over them!

Naruto sighed as he tugged at the grass around him. He missed his self-proclaimed best friend. True they always fought and argued… but whenever they were in a tight spot the other would be there to pull the other out. In all honesty… Naruto was fairly sure they had been getting along better after the Wave mission. Then that stupid snake had to come along and ruin everything.

Naruto flopped backwards onto the grass with a groan.

Until he had met Iruka, he had always been alone. Even then, it had taken a little time, effort, and luck to get Iruka to like him. Sasuke was top of the class, and everyone liked him. Sasuke was everything Naruto wanted to be. But unlike everyone else his age… Sasuke was the first to acknowledge him.

Naruto sighed, gazing up at the clouds. Their white-silver color reminded him of his sensei.

Hatake Kakashi. Creator of the Chidori, the ninja who had copied a thousand jutsu. And a former ANBU.

The last one was the most important to him, because he remembered the ANBU that had helped him out every now and then. Whenever a civilian got too drunk and attacked him, an ANBU member had always been on hand to help him out. One in particular stood out to him. A dog mask, silver hair, and mismatched eyes.

Naruto wasn't as stupid as everyone thought; he just acted slightly more unobservant and idiotic than he actually was to protect himself. If people thought he was harmless, they would leave him alone. He recognized Kakashi immediately as the one who had saved him a couple of times.

It wasn't very often, maybe three times at the most. He recognized the purple haired girl better. But he did remember. Maybe that was why he tried so hard to get his sensei's attention, because he wanted to know that the former ANBU remembered.

"Naruto! Come on, it's time to go!"

"Coming Ero-sennin!"

"Don't call me that in public, brat!"

Naruto missed Konoha. He missed the good times. But most of all, he missed his teammates.

_Hey! I'm not dead! On the flip side of that, I have some bad news._

_Yeah, so my story Restart for the Better? Got deleted off the laptop I was using, and I accidentally deleted it from fanfiction. Actually, reverse that. I accidently deleted it from fanfiction and when I went to find the files on the laptop? Gone._

_So yeah. I've lost my Naruto drive, I just wanted to finish this, and moved on to Hetalia. I'll watch the final movie, but I'm not going to read the next generation manga. I just think it'll mess up my thoughts on the first two Naruto series._

_So I'm probably not doing many more Naruto things. But that doesn't mean I'm disappearing, I'm just moving fandoms._

_It happens._

_So, tell me what you thought of this. If you must flame, then give a rational reason. Not just a 'this sucks' sort of thing._

_Also, if you want to adopt Restart for the Better and finish it, go ahead! Just please credit any original ideas I had. Meaning the whole god death loop and Jashin's reason for sacrifices. And Xia, and Satan. I'm going to use at least the last two again. Somewhere._

_Anyway, bye~!_

_(Please don't hate me!)_


End file.
